It Had Been Twelve Years
by Niells
Summary: It had been twelve years since these two people were around each other. Not the meeting one had hoped for, and other never expected.


His trunk was packed. He'd managed to hold onto it for all of these years. He'd never forget the day he was gifted with it - his eighteenth birthday, a day that begun with grim news but concluded in typical Marauder fashion. A bit beat up, like its owner, the trunk read Professor R. J. Lupin. A hopeful wish of a foolish eighteen year old, but now a new start for a thirty-four year old.

He had arrived early to the platoform - three hours early to be exact, but he didn't want to be risk being seen by anyone. A lot of people he had attended Hogwarts with were now parents of children going to Hogwarts, and he didn't fancy running into any of them. There was one child in particular he wanted to avoid - not out of hate or dislike, but rather deep sadness and regret.

He found a compartment that he hoped would stay empty except for himself. He placed his small trunk on the shelf above his seat, then decided to take a walk along the train he had not journeyed on since he was seventeen years old. Nothing had changed. The carpet floors were still same jet black they'd always been. The wooden walls and doors of the compartments still a deep mahogany, that had always made him feel safe, still standing as perfectly polished as the day the train had been commissioned. He wandered for a while before seeing the time was nearing ten am. He strolled back to his chosen compartment and settled onto the bench seat, reminiscing on times shared with his best friends on this train. The pranks, the planning pranks, the talking about Snilllevus, teasing Prongs about Lily, and Padfoot about Marley. How angry he had been when they told him his nickname was to be Moony, though he was only angry for about ten minutes, before wanting to be included in their conversation again.

Still hoping to be uninterrupted for the journey to his new job, he nodded off about twenty minutes later, having not slept the night before due to nerves.

His wish to travel alone, and his nap, were interrupted by three young voices. He opened his eyes slightly to get a peek at the children and see who the voices belonged to. He saw a young girl, about twelve or thirteen, with bushy brown hair, who was holding what appeared to be a half cat , half Kneazle. Next to her was a lanky, red-headed boy who hoding a large rat. The third person in the compartment was a boy, with shaggy black hair, wearing round glasses which sat in front of brilliant green eyes which were topped by a lightning shaped scar.

Remus closed his eyes completely. He couldn't deal with this, not right now. Of all the compartments on this train, why did Harry have to venture into this one? He could hear the three of them discussing his identity, and nothing in Harry's voice gave away that could suggest he knew who Remus was. That pained Remus to the core, but he knew it was the for best.

Remus would never not blame himself for what happened. How could he have not known what Sirius was up to? Why didn't he notice the strange behaviour? They'd known each other since they were eleven, so surely Remus should've been able to notice something off about one of the people he considered a brother. But alas, that was now in the past, distant memories that taunted Remus when he began to think about how his life could have been.

The three kids were talking away, talking about family, their Summer break, Quidditch and everything else they could think of. It panged Remus to listen, the conversations being so similar to the ones he was a part of during his youth. As they continued to converse, Remus felt the temperature drop suddenly, with the window of the carriage starting to frost up. His head still covered by his coat, he only heard the carriage door open, then a boy screaming, rather than seeing it. As the boy screamed, he leapt into action, pointing his wand at the creature hovering above the screamer.

He took a second to assess the creature and realised it was a Dementor, the creature created to stand guard at the prison Azkaban. Why it was so far from home, he did not know. However, fortunately, he did know the incantation needed to stop the Dementor from sucking out the soul of the child.

Conjuring his happiest memory, one from his time at Hogwarts, in his mind, he raised and pointed his wand at the Dementor shouting, "Expectro Patronum". An ethereal light beamed from his wand, before a ghostly wolf began prancing through the air around the hovering creature. Quickly, the Dementor backed out the cabin, not being able to handle the light being shot towards him.

Once the Dementor had retreated, Remus turned to look at the child who had been screaming. He was disheartened to discover it was Harry, lying down on the bench with his eyes closed. Remus closed the door and moved to Harry in what looked like one move. He awoke the boy, then fed him some chocolate he retrieved from one of his many coat pockets. He stood, intending to go and speak to the train driver about the situation that had just occured, but noticed Harry didn't seem to keen on the chocolate.

"Eat. You'll feel better."

 **A.N Oh my Godric, it has been toooooo long. But here is oneshot about our favourite werewolf. I hope you enjoyed it! - N**


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